Love the Skin You’re In: Embracing Your Handles and Curves

We live in an era when obsessing over the scale may seem like a cliche, but the fact of the matter is that it’s simply gone underground. In an Instagram society, it may not be cool to outwardly fixate about your weight, but none of those Pinterest-perfect poses would be possible without doing just that. As long as you’re eating a balanced diet, practicing moderation, and exercising in some way, you are living a healthy lifestyle. But women are our own worst enemies when it comes to how we look--shaming and criticizing each other and ourselves in an endless feedback loop of insecurity. When you see a confident woman walking down the street, do you make a mental note of her hip size? No! You watch her in awe as she passes, head held high, thinking to yourself, She looks amazing . . . I wish I had her confidence. Well here is that confident woman’s secret: she is comfortable in her own skin. And it’s not effortless. It takes work! The fabulous part of this news is that, if work is all it takes, then ANYONE can do it. ANYONE can feel beautiful and confident in her own skin.

Here are 5 reasons to love the skin you’re in:

1. Clothes look better. Ok, so low-rise jeans, box skirts, and crop tops aren’t always gonna be your best friends. SO WHAT. Curves fill out a good pair of jeans like nobody’s business, and the right dress clings to those curves in all the right places. Curvy gals can stop traffic with a fitted coat with a tight skirt--and just watch how we can fill out a bustier or retro bathing suit!

3. Your skin looks younger. Plumper gals are softer, smoother, and look younger in general, simply because of their extra body fat. That healthy, rosy-cheeked look that we associate with our twenties is really due to subcutaneous fat deposits that keep skin looking full and wrinkle-free. I lived in southern California for a while, where skinny is a mandate, and used to marvel at how much older the average woman looked, simply because there wasn’t anything to prop up the skin.

4. You might be someone else’s role model.There’s no denying it: women watch other women. And much like yourself, they notice when a woman is confident. If they see a glamorous doll who flaunts her curves, wears a two piece bathing suit instead of a one piece, and isn’t afraid to celebrate her figure, they just might get the boost they need to do the same. Just picture it: glowing, confident, voluptuous women everywhere you turn, going about their daily business with the shine and vroom of a million rocket engines. Talk about a revolution!

5. Science is on our side. A 2005 study in Copenhagen showed that women with fuller bodies tend to live longer, and a 2010 Georgia Gwinnett College study found that when men gaze at curvy woman, the part of their brain that deals with positive reward is triggered, “like a drug.” So it’s a fact--you are literally intoxicating.

So drop anyone else’s idea--even your own--of what you’re “supposed” to look like, and start embracing the idea that maybe, just maybe, you DO look exactly how you’re supposed to. And from where we’re sitting, that’s pretty fabulous.